Manpasand Indian carry out

Those bemoaning a dirth of good ethnic food in the Northwest suburbs are just not looking in the right places. Manpasand Indian take out at 644 E. Golf road in Arlington Heights is one more example of the rapidly expanding options in this area. Hidden away in the otherwise very non-interesting "GO-GO" (for Golf and Goebert) plaza this is a take out only spot aimed at Indian families too busy to cook dinner, or entertaining a group. Reminiscent of Malabar catering, dishes can be ordered in individual portions or in trays to feed a crowd.

The owners are South Indian but a variety of styles are offered. Of special note are Several Chettinad dishes not often found elsewhere (including a really outstanding Chettinadu style chicken and a peppery goat curry... available as a biriyanis on weekends). They also do a very good job with Indo-Chinese inchuding two different versions of chicken 65. Vegetarian dishes (especially those with their house made paneer) are also good. I like their Puri too. Most dishes are under $6.

As the name suggests, this is take out only with no provision for eating in. The ovverall quality is very good, better than many sit down places. The spicing seems not a bit dumbed down for the suburbs. This stuff will make you sweat (milder available on request).

A great option for take away if you're in the area. Open evenings during the week,after 11 am on weekends. Closed Monday.

Manpasand Indian Carry Out
644 E. Golf Road
Arlington Heights
847-640-6446

kuhdo - I drive by this place at least once per week in my trips to Valli Produce ( best fresh salsa in town & deli prices half of what the local Jewel charges ! ), but based on your comments I thought I'd give it a try.

I had the Sambar which was perfect for this icy rainy night and the "fish fry" appetizer which is actually an entree sized portion of grilled tilipia. I haven't had Indian food in over 20 years, so obviously I'm no critic, but it was really delicious ... spicy and aromatic but not "over the top" at all.

So, I wanted to thank you for your post ; I would have never even noticed this local business, let alone known what kind of good food they provide.

Now, next time I'll have to try the chicken Chettinadu style.

Glad you liked it! And I totally agree about Valli. it's a regular stop for me too. Never tried the salsa, but I'll get it for sure next time. Thanks for the tip.

I have been wondering about this place for quite some time. I'll be trying it this week. Already enlisted two co-workers for the mission! Thanks, Kuhdo!

gpconco wrote:So, I wanted to thank you for your post ; I would have never even noticed this local business, let alone known what kind of good food they provide.
Now, next time I'll have to try the chicken Chettinadu style.

I havent been there yet, but I'll echo the thanks

Manpasand has been around for *ages* - at least a couple of years Id
guess. Ive always seen it driving past (have, in the past eaten in that
stripmall, but never at Manpasand). I had asked people about it, and
was told it was pretty regulation Indian carryout, good wtih snacks
and other southern stuff (which I presumed meant idlis, sambars etc).
It never even crossed my mind that theyd have Chettinad style food
(which you find very rarely around Chicago)! It makes sense, because
the more ethnic Indian groups are much better represented in the
NorthWest burbs than they are in the city itself... but I had *no* idea
Manpasand was one of these places! (its name doesnt reveal any
such thing about it - it just translates just as "stuff I/my-mind/my-soul/
my-heart likes".. soul-food, maybe?

Iam in the area sometimes, and usually try and stop in at Johnny's (which
is really only around the corner.. Manpasand is just off Seegers IIRC?),
but there arent other great food choices in the area that I know of.
I'll definitely stop in at Manpasand the next time Iam there!

(Oh, and Valli also has gelato, BTW, which isnt bad either

c8w

seebee wrote:I have been wondering about this place for quite some time. I'll be trying it this week. Already enlisted two co-workers for the mission! Thanks, Kuhdo!

This is now going to be a regular lunch option for us. Wound up with four ppl testing the waters. All were impressed with everything.

Chicken Biryani:
The most "plain" out of all, but still decent.

Paneer Makhani:
A surprising hint of sweetness in the sauce, not over the top tho. Still good.

Chicken Chili:
Not nearly as bad as I was expecting, actually, quite good.

Chicken Tikka Masala:
A good representation. Nice bit of heat to this. Not the greatest, but this was not bad at all.

Overall, we agreed that it is definitely worth further investigation, and we won't hesitate to to do so. (Already lining up next week's lunch.)

Thanks again, Kuhdo

so other than chicken chettinad are there are any other signs of chettinad food here - if so, I'd definitely make the drive.

I tried to find an old post of mine on a chettinad place I went to in Madras from the chowhound boards but the best I could do was find a post that quoted it:

I was in chennai about a month and a half ago. Having never been there before, but told by a good friend of the amazing fried fish available at various places around adyar beach. We spent our available few hours looking for fish. My sis and I had spent the past few weeks in my grandmothers ashram eating veg. S. indian food non-stop and we wanted meat. W asked folks dureing our errands but were always given the suggestion of 4 star hotel places, the default type suggestions, we took a pass on these, when after further questioning, it often turned out the recommendation came from someone who didn't even eat meat.

Unfortunately the time we had wasn't enough to get down to adyar so we thought to to look near Marina beach, the city's showcase beach, getting in to our motor-rickshaw we started speaking to our driver, told him of our quest, and noticed his disdain for the "tourist places" near MArina beach. He would show us fried fish, noting his passion, and also the fact that he was recommending a place not notable for it's huge distance (and taxifare) we said let's go.

He took us to the Hotel Ponnuswamy in mylepore district ("hotel" is often used as "restaurant" in india), Ponnuswamy has two dining rooms, a downstairs non AC and an upstairs AC. We went for the AC (it was about 90 outside). Upstairs in the dim light we saw a nicely accomadated room filled with Indian families and businessmen. and looked at the menu, zeroing in on the chettinad specialties (see attached link for more on chettinad and other recommendations).

We ordered crab masala, small whole crabs roasted with a concentrated peppery paste with whole roasted garlic cloves, onions and numerous spices, mutton roast - a dry spice coated fry of lamb, fried fish simply coated with coriander and chile and fried, we also went for some kulcha and parantha which was served with a nice chicken curry, on the side we were given a tasty rasam, as well as a green mango pickle and tomato chutney and rice to fill out our banana leaf's. After gorging ourselves, we went looking for our rickshaw driver to thank him and by him some ice cream for the great tip but he was gone. btw, the whole tab was about 200 rupees or 5 bucks.

Now we need sweets. Earlier we had spied a branch of saravhana bhavan (there are 5 of them in madras) in the same district, a place famous in madras for its S. indian thalis and dosas but we noticed the great looking sweets, which didn't disappoint.

If I have a chance I'll post the addresses later, when i can locate the menus's I brought back.

If I can find the link again, I'll try to post to a really nice article on chettinad food from an indian travel mag called outlook traveller

I had a very good lamb curry with strong black pepper notes which I thought might have been a Chettinad dish, but I'm not sure about this. They also do a chicken 65 "Madras style". Interesting to note they do have several fish dishes on the menu ,but at least one of these was described as being "similar to Malabar style". I'll ask the owner next time I go about other Chettenai dishes . Anyway, thanks for the information on this cusine. I'll look forward to more on this subject from those who know what the food should taste like.

Just spoke to the owner, he tells me the Chettinad chicken curry and a chicken biryani (available weekends ) are the only Chettiand dishes regularly offered. The lamb curry I had was evidently an Andhra dish. Too bad, I'd like to explore this regional cusine more. Anyone know if any other Chettinad dishes are available locally?

Manpasand Indian carry out actually has a website with their menu and prices here: http://swagathgroup.com/

Funny thing I found on the site is:
"We are open all Seven days except Monday"

Manpasand
644 East Golf Road
Arlington Heights IL 60005
Phone: 847-640-6446 847-640-6422